After four years of the U15 club championship being dominated by Paama Sharks, Mele Bulls U15s have broken Sharks’ winning streak and ended this year’s U15 championship on a high with victory over the Mighty Saints and man of the match awarded to their skipper, Marcel Matauatu.

Mighty Saints and Mele Bulls both entered the Grand Final feeling confident and with great fighting spirit after being successful in the semi-finals.

Mighty Saints lost the toss and were sent in to bat first by the Bulls with the hopes of restricting Saint’s batsmen from scoring runs.

With only 8 overs to play, Saints’ openers, Dylan Meyer and Liam Curtis, took on the pitch determined to set run on the scoreboard for their team. Meyer was first on strike sending balls to the boundary in the first over before Vincent Matautaava from the Bulls responded with a good ball and dismissed him.

The Saints were not able to recover from the fall of Meyer’s wicket and were restricted to just 57 runs on the scoreboard to defend.

Bulls determined for a quick victory, sent in Marcel Matauatu and Vincent Matautaava to bat and Matauatu instantly dominated strike hitting boundaries one after the other.

The outstanding knock of the bat (six 4’s) from Matauatu took the Bulls home to victory with 9 wickets still at hand in just 5 overs.

Vanuatu Cricket’s Media officer, Melissa Fare, awarded both teams with their trophies and expressed how well both teams have played during the competition.

“On behalf of the VCA I would like to say congratulations to both teams for making it this far in the competition. Both teams are worthy of being the champion however, there can only be one winner and congratulations to Mele Bulls for coming out on top,” said Fare.

“I would like to also comment on the great fighting spirit from Mighty Saints and I have no doubt that both teams have cricketers with great potential to become future representatives of Vanuatu Cricket.

“We (VCA) are also grateful for all the support from Parents who are always here for matches including the final and a special mention to Azure Pure Water for keeping our cricketers hydrated during the finals.”